Trivial
by Gilbert's Left Arm
Summary: #Shiptember - an entire month of OTPs, fluffly goodness and themed oneshots that may or may not be of interest to you. August 31st: Stars : / - "Humans could spend their whole lives looking up and dreaming about places they'd never go" - / (Also archives Phanniemay)
1. PM Bruises

_What's this? Not an update for Secret? Living Twice?__ Servant of Evil__? I'm sort of on an unofficial hiatus during my exam time, 'unofficial' because I'm still writing, just... rather slowly. Secret is almost finished, I promise. I know you're all waiting, so I wanted to do something just to keep my writing skills going and to actually put something on this account._

_#phanniemay!_

_This theme set seems like fun, and there's one for each day of the month~ I might be able to keep up, who knows? Not on exam week, I won't. So yeah, I'm writing little one-shots for each day. They're mostly Danny's musings about stuff, I suppose, and a place to set down my own head-canons for things in the series for which I am opinionated. If you find it interesting, good for you! This is nothing special~_

* * *

**1st May: Bruises**

"24... 25..." I muttered softly to myself as I counted, eyes slowly travelling down my bare chest in the mirror. My skin was blotched with bruises of all colours and ages. Even after getting so many repeatedly for so long, I couldn't tell which hue matched how old it was, yet the size and position instantly jogged my memory as to which ghost did it and where. The light was dim through my bedroom window, though I could still see clearly the extent of my injuries I managed to gather that day. My torso was dotted with fresh cuts and scrapes of both green and red, and topped with the bruises on my pale complexion it looked like I'd simply been in a very interesting paintball match. With no clothes protecting my top half, anyway. And that was a weird way to play paintball, so...?

I shook my head in the silence, stopping my own train of thought. There were more important things to attend to than gawking at my multi-coloured skin. I had already got my first-aid box out; I'd grabbed it as soon as I'd phased through the window and recovered from an awkward and poorly-planned landing on my bedroom floor. That was where I'd got the bruise on my forehead from. The ghost-fighting was making me delirious - especially in the evenings, but it wasn't like I'd ever stop. It was even more odd, though, when my bruises were displayed in my ghost form. They come from internal bleeding, right? Well, at those times, my blood is neon green. Imagine what interesting glowing colours you can imagine from that. One of the reasons why I had stuck with the haz-mat suit., really.

Thankfully, none of the cuts needed stitching. Doing that myself in the past just normally ended up with me bleeding more and in twice as much pain, and even with Sam or Tucker's help things weren't much better. Jazz never knew the extent of the injuries I received, and I would tell her if I knew her reaction would not be that of a mix between psycho-babble and worry for her younger brother. Which it would be. And that's not very helpful when it also made the chance of my parents finding out about my ghost half marginally bigger. That would cause even more problems. And to think this was all of some injuries I failed at dealing with myself. The fighting part, I could handle. The first-aid part? Not so much.

Oh, my body was perfectly capable at healing itself, alright. It usually did that super-quickly and without much fuss if the scrape was minor. Only when I had to help it along a little was when problems arised. Each time, as I was disinfecting wounds and such, it would also occur to me that if I was a 'normal human', the sort of injuries I got on an almost daily basis where ones that would put a person in the hospital. In a way, I was lucky. But if my bruises and such were ever seen, and I was actually taken to someone to get fixed up, the ectoplasm in my blood would make itself known. And it would all go downhill from there.

After a short while of a few more bandages and a touch of make-up (don't say anything) on my face and arms, I was glad that I could manage to slip into my usual red and white shirt without anything being immediately noticeable. I had become come quite adept in the art of folding my arms to avoid bruises being shown off. The foundation part had originally been Sam's idea when Johnny 13 had punched me square in the face, and some powder and stuff from one of the kits she had reluctantly taken from her mother helped cover my black eye quite effectively. Effectively, but embarrassingly

Dinner was going to be served soon, made obvious by the aroma difting up from the kitchen. I exhaled loudly as a plane rumbled overhead outside, and the sound of the cars driving past below were there, too. It was normal street life, although the town it was in was far from that. Amity Park, the #1 haunted place in the world. And I, Danny Phantom, was its protector, as it had come about.

Despite all the bruises it left me, I didn't seem to mind.


	2. PM Flying

_I have to say, I was really surprised that I got some reviews and favourites/alerts. Thanks so much!_

_**Deborahpflover**__: Thank you and thank you! You're so nice c:_

_**V.I.Y.H**__: Well, there should hopefully be one every day, if I can manage. Is that enough? :)_

_**ellameno:**__ Here's more for you then! Please enjoy Danny's thoughts and such~_

* * *

**2nd May: Flying**

It suddenly occurred to me, as I looked down over the town of Amity Park, how it was actually possible for me to fly. Right now, buildings were either invisible below me or bathed in faint golden and yellow lights from their windows. I could make out the routes of cars far below, their headlights reflecting the slow drizzle of rain that wasn't cold enough for me to feel. The wind whipped and tugged at my hair as I glided onwards on air, my arms tucked by my sides and my legs in the form of wispy, ghostly smoke. I also wondered how I could possibly see _anything_ at this speed and altitude, but whenever I asked myself these sorts of questions, the answer was usually the same thing: my ghost half. Still, I thought as a white owl flew close beneath me, even if it was Phantom that so enabled my ability to let go of gravity in a flicker of a heartbeat, how did I _actually_ do it?

I twisted and angled my body downwards, descending lazily about a hundred feet, but remaining in the safety of the lower clouds. The glow radiating from my body turned the mist a pale silver, and I observed it shine back off the droplets that had begun to condense, ready to soon fall as rain. There was now a sleeker quality to my haz-mat suit, more than before, from this thin layer of cold water. I felt it on my face, too, and I was sure my hair would be dripping with it when I got back home. April may have ended, but we were still getting its showers.

Ghosts, as far as I knew, where the only creatures that could fly without wings. Other animals needed feathers and things to get up into the air. Unless you were a dead bird… then I'd guess you could make a decision as to what to use (how did that even work?). I supposed it came down to your mental state to keep you flying. You need to constantly think about it to stay airborne, but then again you don't. It's the same thing when you're running. I don't do that so much now – air travel is so much faster – but when I do, I don't think "right, I've gotta put my left foot down, then lift my right… ah, now left again… great…" because that's weird and unnecessary. The same thing came with wings, but then you'd get physical aches after flying for too long and it'd become a bother with all the fighting I do. You can be much more agile in the air when you don't two huge feathery appendages sticking out of your shoulder blades. Of course, I get tired when I fly for too long, but I don't know when it is actually coming_ from_. I just get really tired, and eventually my subconscious forces me to land before I faint. Though, I've never passed out from it before and I wouldn't want to find out what would happen if I did.

And then there was the disappearance of my legs whenever I was floating. The first time I had discovered that… 'ability' I had freaked out so much. Sam and Tucker had been beside newly ghost-ified me, their mouths and eyes open just as wide when the complete lower half of my body seemingly started to evaporate. This 'ghostly tail' was impossible to create in my human form, but I could still manage the occasional float if I felt motivated enough. It was getting better – flight was one of the last few powers that had yet too properly leak from my ghost side, along with my ghostly wail and more powerful attacks. That was a good thing in my opinion – humans weren't built to hold so much power. Without my manifestation of Phantom, I'd have been dead before I even stumbled out of that portal. Luckily it all came in one package. A very painful, agonizing sort of package.

Despite all of this, flying in general was great. I loved getting out and throwing myself into the sky whenever I had a moment of free time. Which wasn't often, so it made it even more special. I remembered my first ever flight, how I'd stayed low to the ground, but gradually pulled up as my confidence grew. For a while, I was still held down by fear, partially out of what I had actually become rather than falling. Now though, I guessed you could say officially that it was favourite pastime, the hobby I liked the best. My friends who knew my secret and also Jazz enjoyed this with me sometimes, always jumping at the opportunity whenever I offered. Did Vlad, in between all his being evil and drooling over my mum, go out for flights to cool his head, or to relax a little? Or the other ghosts? Or was it purely a combination of my human emotions and personality that made me want to use my natural defensive/offensive ability for fun?

Either way, it wasn't like I cared.

The stars smiled back at me as I looked up to find them.

* * *

_'Yakusoku' by Sugo Shikao is such a gorgeous and beautiful song... why am I saying this what_


	3. PM Favourite Ship

_I almost didn't get this chapter up - I was too busy hyperventilating because __**Danny Phantom might be coming back**__. As in, new stuff. Butch Hartman's got obvious hints all over his Twitter and the phandom over on Tumblr is going nuts. And so am I._

_Here's a quick one, then, whilst not forgetting those three awesome people who reviewed again!_

_ellameno: I'm so glad you loved it! Now I don't want to let anyone down with the ones I write in the future... XD_

_V.I.Y.H: More! More! More! :D_

_Deborahpflover: Thank you for the compliment, it means so much 3 It was hard to write in places, consider I had to use my imagination as I can't actually fly myself ahahahah~_

* * *

Kissing Sam was one of the craziest things I'd ever done.

There are lots of meanings for that word, and I think a lot of them, in a sense, manage to sum up how I'd felt about it in one word. Hopefully you should get them because I'd be going on about it for ages otherwise.

We sat there, our hands entwined, on the hill that looked over the centre of town. She and I were just out of view of everyone below, but we could still see them at our vantage point. Not that we wanted to at that moment; we had other things on our mind.

It wasn't like one of those huge, dramatic kisses in the movies where it looks like both partners are trying to eat each other (or something similar). Our lips met, and we kissed for a short while, and there isn't much more to say about it _physically_. Except perhaps the fact that her purple lipstick tasted like grapes.

There is a lot more to say when it came to my mental situation at that moment, though. What we did actually took a large weight off of my shoulders, and I felt extremely happy. My secret of being Phantom had been revealed a few days prior; I had cleared a lot of stuff up with a lot of people, but I still had the problem of not really being able to confess to Sam after that time we kissed in the snow. Despite feeling really nice, there was something hasty about it. There were other things we were busy thinking about – the distasteroid that could have destroyed the whole world _and _the Ghost Zone. It was rushed, I think, and all our feelings were poured into it too much too fast. Afterwards I sort of felt like we only did it to relieve all the stress and the tension of the situation. But that _was_ in the past. The kiss on the hill – the only one I wanted to really describe as my first kiss, really, was the 'planned' one. We both knew what we wanted, and we managed to sort it out.

I picked her up afterwards, and, in my usual classy style, dramatically flew her off into the sunset.

Oh, indeed, there were many problems with our relationship thereafter. Not so much coming from us – Sam has a lot of empathy for my situation (perhaps because she was the one that caused it) and arguments between us are rare and over stupid, childish things that are fixed very quickly. The main barrier was her parents. My parents couldn't care less. I knew that Mum and Dad were too excited about my ghost half to even think about my love life. A week or so after that accident had my free time completely filled telling stories of my fights and such. Unsurprisingly, it was Sam's then that were the ones that caused us trouble. The news of my being Phantom literally got to every person in the world – the good _and_ bad parts of it. It took a while to work through what was fact and what was fiction.

I tried my very best that day when I showed up to her house (mansion), in my human form and wearing an expensive black suit that Mum had bought for me. The family gave me odd looks the entire evening and I felt extremely uncomfortable in everything I did in their presence. There were about a dozen pieces of cutlery for me at dinner and I didn't even know how to use two. They actually also requested for me to switch to Phantom for a little bit –whether it was purely probing curiosity or otherwise I wouldn't know – to which I obviously obliged. That evening was, yes, _crazy_. I was actually disappointed that the usual ghost fights were changed to very stern questions regarding Sam's safety. Her independent nature pulled through for my sake, however, and there was actually very little shouting involved between when I arrived and when I flew home.

Our relationship right now is slow, but extremely comfortable. Paulina, of course, is very unhappy, but even she has come to accept it. Life with my secret out is just as hectic and unexpected as I knew it would be from the moment I chose to switch to Fenton in front of a crowd of people, and Sam is one of the reasons why I think I'm actually able to half-survive it.

I couldn't imagine my life without her…

…Or Tucker.


	4. PM Crossover (Danny Phantom X テガミバチ)

This oneshot is definitely a little different. It's written in the present tense and the second person, for one thing. Also, I am aware that Danny Phantom doesn't have any existing crossovers with Tegami Bachi, so it was really exciting to write this and I'm so pleased with it. I wouldn't expected you to recognise little Lag here, the fandom is practically non-existent despite the beauty of the story.

Deborahpflover: I know what you mean! All in all, though, Phantom Planet sort of disappointed me in the terms of how their relationship was a little rushed :/ So that was my take on it! I'm very glad you liked it ;)

ellameno: Please remember to breathe! Oh dear! Well, the evidence is all on Butch Hartman's twitter, if you want to take a look yourself. 3

V.I.Y.H: For real! And meh, Tumblr is way better. There's a massive DP community and everyone is wonderful :3 Thank you!

* * *

_**May 4th: Crossover (Danny Phantom X **_**テガミバチ**_**)**_

You know from the moment you see him that the boy in front of you is different.

He can't be much younger than you – eleven or twelve years old at the most, but he is just so shockingly _small_.

He is curled up in a ball amongst the rubble, arms over his head and shaking. The clothes he is wearing are… strange. Not abnormal, but they look almost like an extravagant uniform. It is also coated in a thick layer of dust from where the building collapsed. You think he is awake – as you drift closer, hovering a foot or so of the ground, you begin to hear faint whimpers of pain. It was then that you see his hair. Oh gosh, his _hair_. It is the same pure, inhuman white as yours. Except there is absolutely no evidence that he is a ghost. He can't be a ghost. There is no aura enveloping him, just a faint supernatural presence that feels like something _other _than that. He isn't anything like a half-ghost, as you are. He is just something else.

Putting all these thoughts behind to ensure that he is well, you lean down, close to his face. "Hey kid," you ask, trying to seem as unthreatening as possible, "are you alright?"

He groans softly, and mumbles something in a delicate voice you can't quite hear.

"Kid?" you repeat when he doesn't respond further.

Still nothing more.

You gently reach out a hand to shake him, hoping your icy skin, even through your glove, won't frighten him too much. Your palm presses on his shoulder and moves him a little, tilting his tiny body towards you. In your position, you would now be able to see the full extent of any injuries he has, but you are too busy with something else.

Something has flashed a brilliant red, and you find your eyes are wide and unable to move as your vision suddenly becomes completely white. If you were in your human form, your breath would have hitched. Instead a sound escapes your throat that is only similar to a gasp. Images are flashing into your vision, one after the other at speeds you can barely comprehend. Half you can recognise – they are fragments of your memories from all different parts of your life. Some are painful, like the ones where you can see yourself going into the portal or getting hit by a powerful ghostly opponent. Some make you smile for milliseconds at a time. Your first real date with Sam. The time your parents accepted your Phantom side. Your truce with Valerie.

The other half of these images are completely alien to you. Everything is different, darker than before. They terrify you with visions of ugly creatures so much bigger than buildings and men with guns and dark clothes. A child is heard screaming and crying through most of them, and your brain faintly recognises the voice as the one lying on the ground in front of you. There are also other, non-sensical things in between them. The roar of a motorbike, the smell of homemade soup, a young girl's smile, and a colour spoken in something that is not English.

It stops. It stops at a speed that is not fast, but yet not too slow either.

Your body becomes your own again, regaining its weightlessness rather than being tense and stiff. The boy is hyperventilating, the eye that is not hidden behind his snowy hair open as far is it could go. It is a curious mixture of purple and a pale red, you notice as his gaze slowly rises to rest on you.

He speaks, clear and bold this time as his small fists inside his thick gloves are clenched.

You are relieved until you realise that you can't understand him.

His expressions change quickly when you don't reply. First confusion, desperation, then worry and finally a look of understanding through a narrowed eye as his breathing gradually starts to regulate itself. He reaches out and touches your cheek, and you try your best not to pull back. Whatever he caused earlier obviously was bothering him too, and you didn't want to scare him further by drawing away. There is a small spark of something when the fabric over his fingers touches your skin, but it is barely noticeable.

The boy says something else, and you try desperately to work out what language it is. You have been to most places in the world during your appearances to the public as Phantom, and this child was definitely from a developed country judging his clothes. His words should be familiar even if you can't get them, but yet they aren't.

'Nowaru'. You catch that word, just like you did in the visions. It sounded like French, but there was nothing else you recognise in his sentences. You lift an arm and wrap a hand round his wrist, replying back, slowly and with gestures.

"Are you hurt?" you point to a cut you can feel on your own face, which is bleeding ectoplasm yet he doesn't notice, and then to him, hoping he will get the message.

He does. He shakes his head quickly. You both smile.

It might not be the best time to, but you absolutely _need _to know what had just happened. Would he have your answers? With your best efforts, you act out the scene that has just gone by, waving your hands in ways that represent light. He is following, thank goodness, and then the white-haired child takes his hand back after you finish and pulls away the hair in front of his face, revealing the left eye that was curtained beneath it.

You almost look away, holding back the urge to gag and trying not to let the horrified expression show.

It isn't even an _eye_. It looks like a crystal, a semi-precious stone that is a blood red. What kind of sick person would ever replace his left eye for something like that? The area around it isn't even faintly scarred, and one of your many thoughts besides the motives are just _how. _And that isn't even the worst thing. Embedded inside lies an insect, most likely dead. It looks fossilised and you wonder worriedly how a child of his age can just act around its existence so casually and willingly. The whole thing is giving off a faint glow, and you realise that this is where the inhuman feeling is emitting from, and suddenly the visions' sources make sense to you.

You point to it, showing your understanding. He smiles again and drops his hand, hiding the thing once again.

There is silence as you think of what else you could possibly say at this moment, but he interrupts you when he points to his chest, to himself.

"Lag Seeing." he speaks, then looks at you expectantly.

That was his name, wasn't it? It couldn't have been anything else.

"Uh…" you begin. How do you introduce yourself? As Fenton or Phantom?

"…Danny Fenton," you reply.


	5. PM Vlad

_Ohhhh, I've /always/ wanted to write something like this! I was considering doing a whole halfa-Vlad story separate from this, but that's very low on my list of things I want to write about! Well, never say never, I suppose._

_The anime yesterday was Tegami Bachi. Even if you don't watch anime, I really suggest you break that just for this or even read the manga (which is, in fact better). It's beautiful. And even if you do watch anime, the TegBach fandom is so tiny, no one else knows what it is anyway. It's a shame such a wonderful story goes so unnoticed :c_

_ellameno: I wrote more! :0 enjoy this one, too :D_

_Y.I.Y.H: Butch Hartman is mentioning a live action movie, which actually has me dead worried T_T I don't want it to be bad! Thanks for the review!_

* * *

**5th May: Vlad**

You remember the moment you woke up because you hadn't woken in such a long time.

Nothing was stirring around you; there was silence engulfing the white room. You could see, as your eyes slowly began to adjust, flashing colours on your left. It was some sort of medical monitor that lay by your bedside, and you wondered curiously why it wasn't making any noises.

You were definitely alone, in a ward, in a hospital. There are no nurses or doctors around to check on you when you sat up – no one knew that you had finished with your sleep.

It was strange. It might have been for the fact the gowns that they had fitted you with for your stay were extremely thin, but you felt weightless. Like the slightest gust of wind could have just blown you away and into the sky. And too like when you're in a under in deep pool of water, drifting along and letting the current move you as it pleases.

Your tried to lean forward further, but your movements were restricted. There were tubes and clips and pads and plasters and electronic things over your face and neck, but the numbness that seemed to be on that part of your body had forbidden you from discovering anything else. It was also why you could not hear, you realised. But you didn't want to mess with anything. You can't recall why you were here, nor where the pain you should probably have been feeling was. You needed to trust the people here at the hospital to know what they are doing. You could be dying from something and pulling things out was not going to help much.

It felt like it should be a lot to take in, but you surprisingly found it easy to accept despite your lack of information. You took a deep breath and raised your hands in front of you, level with your eyes as you looked at them with no real meaning. They tingled a little, and so you assumed that you must have been lying on them while you were unconscious at some point. Actually, now that have realised it, this 'tingle' is pretty much everywhere. It was not uncomfortable. It felt… strange, but… ok.

"Vladdie!"

A memory startled you and you blinked as you tried your best to make sense of it. Yes… you remember now. You were in the lab back down at college, working on the ghost portal with your friend Jack and the lovely woman that followed him a lot, Maddie. You could remember it being activated, and then the sound of whirring, close to your ears. And then…

You tried not to cry out.

The flashes of pain, so pure and merciless. It had torn at your skin, burning your eyes that you could not force shut, no matter how hard you tried. It flooded into your open mouth and down your exposed throat, spreading throughout your body, an internal hellfire. That was when you screamed, not now. You wouldn't now. It was over. It had finished. Done.

You just needed to become well again so that you could go and give Jack a piece of your mind. He had probably taken your only chance with Maddie from you; you couldn't see your face very clearly in the mirror across the room, but you could easily guess what it would have looked like. A face only your mother would look at, behind the scarring, and still have found beautiful.

All the while, that 'tingle' grew. You still felt it everywhere, but it was strongest at your hands. So much, they began to ache and you cursed through gritted teeth at the return of pain that you didn't want.

Stop it.

Just stop it.

Stop stop stop stop st-

The room lit up, a bright purple, brighter than the bright white of the walls, that almost fried your eyes like the stupid portal did. It took your breath away and you found yourself panting thereafter, eyes focused on the wall in front.

You could see outside. There were trees and the middle one had a hole in.

You glanced back down at your hands. They were smoking and the tingle remained, the spark was still there and suddenly you smiled so widely you wondered how it fit on your face. A huge knowing grin with crinkles at the sides of your burnt face.

You didn't need any help anymore.


	6. PM Redesign

_Ohhh, this one was really hard! I think #phanniemay was originally supposed to be an art challenge, so this theme shouldn't have been so difficult... Also excited right now because 'Free!' is in existence after thousands of signatures on the petition. Behold the power of Tumblr!_

_V.I.Y.H: I'm glad you enjoyed Secret as well!_

_ellameno: Yes, yes he did XD Thanks for the review!_

_(Thank you to you two who are reviewing every day! You're awesome and I love you 3)_

* * *

**6th May: Redesign**

"Sam," I began, flicking through the note-book she had handed to me, "these… these are really, _really_ good." The pages were filled to the brim with ghostly-themed doddles, all retaining references to Phantom in some way. My eyes widened further whenever I turned over to countless more logo designs and ideas for outfits on the next side. It was at least ten until I felt myself really smile, though, grin spread wide as I spotted the elusive 'DP' symbol, circled repeatedly with a black biro.

I looked up at her, "so you were the one who put that on my chest the time tucker and I lost our memories. I was so curious about it for a while, but I guess I must have forgotten."

She was just nodding and blushing for her answers, but when a silence began to drag out (that wasn't in any way awkward), Sam decided to speak up. She stretched her arm over my shoulder – no reacting to the freezing cold, mind you – and turned a few more pages. The first thing I saw was a glued-in newspaper clipping of what the media had dubbed 'Phantom Planet', the day the whole world came to know my identity. The picture featured in the article was obviously myself, my rings formed and just travelling past either ends of my torso and revealing a white t-shirt.

"See?" I heard her voice from behind me.

"Huh? That you're turning into Jazz?" (both of their scrapbooking skills had increased considerably over the past few weeks).

"What? No! Look…" her right index finger (adorned with a large purple ring) pointed to the doodles beside it, which… weren't really doodles.

"Same…" I breathed in awe, "I…wow…"

They were full-blown Phantom costume designs – complete with measurements, fabric choices and places for weapons where I didn't realise they fitted. She had thought of everything.

"I was thinking – and I'm only just saying this Danny – it's your opinion and all," she said, "but don't you think it's time to change to something more heroic than a haz-mat suit? I mean, it's a little dull, and you're the _saviour of the people."_

I laughed, "I guess so. But I'm really attached to that old thing. You're going to have to try your very best to sway me."

Her eyes lit up at the challenge and she told me to switch to my ghost form, to which I obliged. Sam ran her fingers down on of my arms, stopping each time there was a rip or tear.

"Oh, look at this thing; Danny," she half-groaned with a smile, "it's so beat up! We'd spend hours patching it before we can even start adding new stuff!"

"We're keeping it?"

"You said you wanted to. I can just sew a few bits and bobs on to brighten it up a little."

I nodded, picking up her book again in my now-gloved hands. Some of the things she had drawn were extremely extravagant with capes and gems, but there were a few that were even more basic than my current one. I liked them all.

"Is this what you do in English class?"

She giggled.

* * *

_Wow that was short... XD_


	7. PM Mermaid AU

_I love mermaid AUs so much! It's a bit odd, though, the amount I like them. I love drawing them, too (but this is a writing thing for me, so I've settled with a mer!Danny drabble instead)._

_ellameno: Oh gosh, I doodle all the time. You should see all the notebooks I have! :D_

_V.I.Y.H: Mmmmmhmmm~ Thanks for reviewing!_

_Pokeshadow55: The sound I made while reading your review was inhuman! XD That series though, it's so great. Manga's better. You find out more about Lag, and Niche finally grows up! I love it! I would love to write a crossover, but I'm drawn back by time and the fact it wouldn't get many reviews because, to be honest, the TegBach fandom is tinyyyyy._

* * *

**7th May: Favourite AU**

Danny always loved to hear the stories of the time when the people of the land and sea were together. They were such a long time ago, so far back in history. Not even the oldest of the merfolk had been alive to experience or remember them. Neither their parents, neither their grandparents. The tales came from books in ancient text the historians had managed to decipher, and eventually they were released into the public. He'd got them for his seventh birthday, and there has never been a day when he hasn't glanced at at least a few words or lines.

He also believed that, amongst his people, that he was the only one that knew what human beings actually looked like. Sure, there were descriptions in the passages of their strange lower body and how it enabled them to 'stand', upright on the flat surface that was the land.

When he was thirteen, he'd had his first glimpse of them. He'd been out exploring the reefs, swimming amongst the coral and such, when a great shadow passed above him. He looked up to see what he would later find out was the base of a boat, and swam upwards towards it. No fear was evident, only curiosity. He surfaced, closing his gills to keep the water in. In the texts there were chapters about how the merfolk could indeed breathe above land, and many had tried and succeeded – Danny was yet to do so.

The boat was a rather spectacular thing – it was unlike anything he'd seen before. For a short while he floated there and wondered if it was perhaps an animal (a new type of whale?), but then these _things_ began to come into view, walking out onto an outside bit of this thing. At first he thought they were mermaids and merman, but it didn't take him long to realise that this was not the case. He watched in awe at theses merfolk-like creatures, speaking a strange and fast language, and he worked out that they were actually humans; the land people. His eyes widened. He actually saw some!

But they shouldn't be able to see him – the reason the two species lived apart is because the humans broke their pact and actually caught merfolk in their fishing nets long ago, using their tails and fins for strange medicine and food. If they saw him, there in the water, they'd kill him!

With an open mouth and a quiet cry, Danny fled back down beneath the waves.

That was a few years ago now, and the boy wouldn't exact like to admit that he saw this beings almost every day. It wasn't that long a distance the coast if he swam fast - a three and a half hour round trip, he'd guess. On the way, he'd always be sure to collect items or hunt for fish to eat to decrease suspicion. What he was actually doing was lying on the rocks (after having learned to breathe with air, of course) – ones titled away from the beach – just in the view of the humans. He'd found it strangely interesting to watch them play on the shore. Their life was so different! Everything seemed a whole lot less organised. The young were allowed to just run free, and they would often injure themselves. It was so rare for any of the merfolk to fall ill or become wounded; only ones that went to war were the ones that came back scarred. Of course everyone should be careful. Spilling blood into the water that you and others breathed was dirty and disgusting. He hated the medical caves.

One day, a female human showed herself for the first time on the beach. She was dreadfully skinny, and seemed so sad whenever he caught sight of her face. She was with another human, a male, the kind with the darker skin that he sometimes saw. He left after a while, maybe to go and get something because she gave him a sort of fake smile and a nod.

Danny just stared at her. And stared. And stared. And started.

He nearly screamed when she looked back.

He jumped, sliding himself off his rock back down into the water, hoping that was the end of that.

Danny didn't want to leave (he wanted to see her again), so he sort of stayed there in an awkward position for a little bit. When nothing happened, he sighed to himself and pulled his body up onto the rock again…

…Only to come face to face with her.

She looked at him in shock, eyes travelling past his face and down his body, following the natural line of his silver and black scales, all the way down to the large ribbed fin at the end. Her mouth seemed to hang permanently slightly open, blinking rapidly every now and then.

All he could think of to do was blush and shrug sheepishly, before sliding over a little and tapping the surface of the rock with a grin.

He didn't think she was going to hurt him.


	8. PM Tucker

_Already on number 8! I'm quite pleased with myself, surprisingly I thought I'd give up on two :) And it's even more awesome that people are sticking with this and reading it 3 I love you all. _

_Pokeshadow55: I hate being busy T_T And it is awesome! The scanlations are a little behind though, which is a shame bcause the best stuff is yet to come. And I love merpeople regardless (AU or not). They're so fun to draw, too!_

_V.I.Y.H: I don't remember finding a mer!Danny AU that I actually enjoy lots, which is a shame. -Man has an amazing one, but it's a mature rating and probably not in your fandom group c: Ah, well. (Grrr that just makes me want to write it moreeee)_

* * *

**8th May: Tucker**

Tucker is…,

What do I say about Tucker?

If you ask him yourself, it's almost guaranteed he'll raise a single eyebrow at you, tug at the corner of one side of his mouth, the raise his hands and point at you with a "that's T.F: as in _too fine_."

In all honesty, though, disregarding jokes and puns, he's my friend. My best friend. We've been friends literally for as long as I can remember. Our parents can't even remember how we first came to meet each other. There isn't even one of those hazy memories which jump around a bit but you sort of know what they mean anyway.

He has a history for being flirty and hitting on any attractive girl he sees within his age range (apart from Sam; he knows to stay away), and has thus far (despite even become the _mayor, _of all things) been very unsuccessful. But that seems to add to his character, I suppose, and I think deep down he might feel a bit lonely. Ever since I first became Phantom, I was officially the one in our little group of three that earned the centre of attention and then when me and Sam started dating he started to become the third wheel in our relationship. It wasn't entirely obvious, but I could tell it was hurting him.

Becoming the 'leader' of Amity Park was great. It really boosted his confidence. You might first approach Tucker and, on the outside, he looks happy. Outgoing, an extrovert that likes to have his voice heard. But his pressures are similar to mine, in a way. Instead of worrying about getting injured while flying around and fighting ghosts, he has to worry about his best friend getting injured while flying around and fighting ghosts. He cares so much for other people and it's those other people that need to _really _listen to what he's saying, to see through that wacky exterior and into the real Tucker.

So really, Tucker is…

He's helpful, kind – generic things like that that you should expect in every person you meet. His sense of humour is weird and different in a good way, and he's really, _really_ clever. I still haven't figured out why he's flunking so many classes. Of course, there are times when he can be super annoying – but he'd usually use that for something useful, like when he exposed 'Gregor' (AKA Elliot) for who he really was.

Personally (and this can't technically apply to anyone else), I'm thankful to Tucker for supporting me and sticking with me all while I was trying to learn the ropes of being-half ghost and not get freaked out or anything. Because it is a pretty weird thing. He only got _properly_ jealous once, way back last year when I first learned to use my ectobeams. Or maybe a little, when his ego seemed to grow and he became the supreme ruler of a pseudo-Egyptian empire. I'm just lucky that _I_ haven't gone power crazy (yet).

As the mayor, he gets a lot of say in what happens around here, but final decisions are carried out and discussed formally by a team of adults that work with him. Because obviously he isn't old enough and the town doesn't really want meatloaf Mondays or miniskirt Fridays. He keeps me away from bad publicity as well, which gives me another thing for me to be grateful to him for.

I guess, then… Tucker is…

Tucker.


	9. PM Sam

Ahhhh, just under two weeks until exams properly begin, although I have a German exam on Wednesday that I'm not looking forward to :/ Let's just hope I get enough revision in! At first, I get really stressed when I think about writing a #phanniemay oneshot, but it sort of calms me down after a long day of studying and whatnot.

ALIKAT131: Really! I'm glad :) Thanks for reviewing~

Deborahpflover: Thank you for those comments! :D I wasn't aiming for anything really - I just enjoy exploring things in the DP universe and this challenge is the perfect way for me to do that. It's so nice that you are reading!

V.I.Y.H: Do you? And I /adore/ Tucker. He's so witty and fun XD

"Cut!"

"Well, Danny…" the interviewer seemed unsure what to say. He fiddled with the papers in his lap, lining them up then lining them up again before shuffling them around a bit and scanning through a few. He coughed, cleared his throat and then awkwardly glanced that the cameramen to the left of us. Our audience wasn't overly small – just a collection of production staff, Jazz who had come along to make sure I wasn't being harassed, and director who sat in his chair with his megaphone set firmly in his lap.

"Yes?" I looked steadily back at him and blinked, my hand rested on my chain in a way that didn't make me look bored.

"What you just told me… us…" he fell silent _again_.

"Yes?"

He furrowed his brow and glanced at his watch before his eyes trailed to look out of the large window, which had beyond it a view of the center of Amity Park. Cars were bustling, people were continuing their daily lives as per usual. A group of Phan Girls tottered past, unaware that their idol was a few storeys above them.

"…Let's move on to the next question, shall we?"

"Um… ok. Sure."

Jazz and I exchanged confused expressions as he cleared his throat again. The director shouted 'action!' for the hundredth time and soon I found myself putting on an automatically tv-like persona, trying to come across confident as I set my shoulders forward and folded my hands on my knees with a soft smile.

"So," he began again, as if we had just started our 'conversation', "tell us about Samantha Manson."

"Sam?"

"If you would."

"Well…" I felt a faint heated blush start to creep up my face and I put on a thoughtful expression to hide it, as well as a soft smile while I planned my answer. "It must be clear by now that we are indeed, as you would say, an _item_. But that term by no means makes in any less strong or true. I love her, and I hope she feels the same way back.

"It was her, after all, who was the one that encouraged the cause of my 'accident' in the first place. She's the one that took the photo of me just before it happened, with a confused looking, _human_ me holding a haz-mat suit that soon inverted to the way you see now. She was also the one that screamed as loud as I did with worry as I half died, and the first to rush to me as I stumbled across my parents' lab floor. Tucker was close behind of course, but I've already talked a lot about him, I guess.

"She returned my memories to me after I took them away, she was the true victor of many of Team Phantom's ghost fights and Sam was the girl that motivated me enough to find my feet again before the Disasteroid hit.

"We like to keep our private lives to ourselves, and I don't want the media to get involved too much into our relationship. We both do not want silly articles in papers or things like that. But, like I spoke about with Tucker, I can still tell you the honest truth of what I think of her. She's a strong and independent person – you can tell that much from how different she is compared to her mother and father, she's always making sure that she gets her opinion heard and, more often than not, the one who convinces me no to do stupid stuff. Or she stops it after I've done it. I suppose that's why I am so attracted to her, in a way. She's a breath of fresh air with her unique personality and her literal thinking keeps me logical. You sort of need someone like that when you're in my position."

Silence.

I spoke again: "was that enough?"

"…Yes, that was… very interesting, Danny."


	10. PM Western

_I found this one difficult for some reason, but I got there in the end. Tucker was fun to right here~_

_PhantomBowtie: I'm glad! I might write one in the future, but it will be the distant future with the rate I'm going XD_

_ellameno: Three from you! Thank you 3 Yes, everyone needs a Danny in their lives. And what is the reason behind your not liking mermaidAU fics?_

_Deborahpflover: I tried to make it as entertaining as possible. They really are just thoughts, and I enjoyed the challenge of turning into an actual scene, unlike Tucker's one. Perhaps I'll do more like this..._

_V.I.Y.H: Sam is awesome! I love her character so much c:_

* * *

**10th May: Western**

"Isn't there anything else we can watch?"

"We must have seen everything here apart from that, though!"

"Sam, you have _hundreds_ of movies. There must be at least one other we haven't seen yet."

"Oh, lighten up. It's a sequel to one of my most favourite movies ever. Let's give it a try, ok?"

"But it's a _western_," Tucker groaned loudly, rocking back on his seat, "I hate westerns. Can't we just re-watch Zombie Garden Massacre Three?"

"We've seen that loads of times! Look – even Danny's agreeing with me." She had spotted me nodding. To be honest, I couldn't care less what movie she put on. I'd probably have to leave for a ghost fight or two half way through. I could never sit down for long enough to finish one, not ever since all this ghost business first began anyway.

It took quite a while, but eventually Tucker gave in with a loud and purposeful sigh, before slumping back down and resting a hand on his chin with a grumpy expression. He proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes that involved set-up time and watching the beginning of the movie (also even while we grabbed popcorn and made slushies) wearing a pout that made him look more stupid than was probably intended. He made comments and insulted the film wherever possible, and for most of the time I was tempted to side with him, because it was actually quite bad. In my opinion, of course. Sam was completely gushing though, letting out exciting - but composed - squeals whenever the two main characters did something all romance-y. I tried to smile with her when she looked at me and I stroked the back of her hand once or twice when something sad was happening.

"Wait, I've seen this bit before!" Tucker suddenly shouted as one of the cowboys drew out his gun, then he paused, his mouth open, "… oh wait, my bad, I actually haven't. Sorry, all western movies are the same and I mistook it for something I _actually enjoyed._"

"They're not all the same!" Sam shouted from my other side, "this one has a some great plot twists that you haven't seen yet! They've still got to-"

"Are you saying it's not almost finished yet?"

"Not nearly!"

(I took it upon myself to press the pause button on the remote control).

"Oh, great!" he rolled his eyes, "how long more? Two, three hours?"

"Tucker," I interjected, "we've only been watching this film for about twenty-five minutes."

It fell silent after that for some reason. And I'm not going to lie, it was an extremely long film. He grumbled for a long time (and we managed to ignore him), but eventually Tucker fell asleep. We threw a blanket over him and then Sam grabbed one for ourselves from the other side of the room. Snuggling together, she rested her head in the crook of my neck and set the half-full popcorn bowl on my lap. She ate most of it, and I tried my best to pay attention. Sam helped me so much with what I had to do on a daily basis without question, the least I could do is listen when she talks about her hobbies that I don't share with her, or what she wants to watch a film that I wasn't really interested in. There were actually a few scenes that were ok. I found myself enjoying the ones in the bars.

I might have been the last to fall asleep, I think. Sam's breathing slowed beside me and her arm didn't move from its spot slung around my chest and onto my shoulder. Putting the screen in front of me to the back of my mind, I let my thoughts spiral downwards until I fell into a little doze.


	11. PM Favourite Ghost

_Oh gosh, sorry if this one lacks in quality - my friend (and co-writer of Servant of Evil) surprised me with a ticket to see Star Trak with him and I'm about to fall asleep. I knew I needed to get this out, so here I am at gone 10pm churning out chapters with my eyelids drooping. I hope you like it anyhow!_

_ellameno: I suppose they can be, especially when it comes to disney XD I so prefer traditional ones. One of what?_

_PhantomBowtie: 3 thanks for the review! :D_

_Deborahpflover: I had to sit there and think for ages. The only westerns I've seen probably aren't even proper westerns, so I barely had any knowledge of them anyway XD_

_V.I.Y.H: ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! :)_

* * *

**11th May: Favourite Ghost (Skulker)**

My father whistled a single, long note and rested his black gloved hands on his hips.

"Danny, my boy, you've sure bagged yourself a big one this time."

"Trust me, I've caught him before," I rapped my knuckles on the ghost's metal 'arm' with a grin, "but he's the slippery kind. Add that onto his ego and you get this combination."

Mum was currently inspecting the legs and feet of the machine, eyeing it with obvious interest. "The proportions are all wrong," she almost mumbled as she took notes on her clipboard, "but for some reason it stands up without any assistance. Danny, do you suppose it is because of the ecto-technology?"

I shrugged and glanced at the eyes, which lacked their usual plain neon green. "I don't know. I'm not that great with ecto-machinery. All my allies are really behind the times. This… this is more Technus' field, and he's not a friendly, that's for sure."

"Technus?" Dad echoed, "the one that once took all the stuff from the shed?"

"Uh… yeah. He took it."

Jazz had so far not uttered a single thing, although there was a small smile on her face whenever she saw me together with our parents. The safety issue was one of the first barriers I had to cross with my parents after the Disasteroid incident, and it took a lot of sorting out to make sure Phantom could stay out there, protecting the town. In the end, I offered them every ghost I caught, plus a full detailed report with it (usually verbal because I never had the time anymore). Not to mention I had to let them have the password to my ghost files.

"So, you're saying," Jazz finally did speak, "that Ghost X-"

"-Skulker…"

"Fine then, 'Skulker', is actually a tiny creature that drives this robot, and not actually the thing itself?"

"Right."

"Will we get to see it soon?" My stood up from her crouch with a thoughtful look on my face.

"Not if he knows he's under threat, he won't. He could take years to get out of there."

"Can't you just use your intangibility?"

"He's got barriers against that, trust me."

Jazz got out of her chair and closed her binder as she approached us. "If you want him to feel 'safe' enough to come out, Danny, the least you can do is get out of your ghost form."

"…I suppose, yeah."

"And Mum and Dad should put away any visible weapons."

There was a bright flash of light from me as my parents put their guns up on the racks and shelves.

"Ok, now what?"

"We wait," Jazz and I both said, "for him to come out."

And he did, in the end. Dad's expression during it was amazing. One second, he was slumped idly on the floor, one fist childishly buried into his chin with boredom. Then the next, he was in a proper hunter's stance, eyes narrowed at the small green thing as it stepped out of the face with some smoke behind it.

"It's so tiny!" Mum exclaimed with wonder, and she reached to pick it up.

I giggled. Skulker was too weak a ghost in his true form to even stop a human from capturing him.

I stepped closer, my eyebrows raised sarcastically as I stared at the tiny green ghost.

"Who's the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter now?"


	12. ST Stars

Wooot woooot! First day of Shiptember! :D

I can't really think of anything to say in this A/N, so enjoy this little drabble, if you will:

* * *

"You always said you wanted to be an astronaut, right?"

Her voice took me by surprise and I looked towards her, blinking.

"Huh?"

"Your room," she said softly, "it's full of pictures from NASA and stuff."

"Hmmm," I agreed, "but it doesn't look like there'll be time for that."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Sam's fingers were threaded through mine as our hands rested on the grass, which was a little damp from the rain earlier. She had her legs tucked into herself slightly and her back rested against a chestnut tree that casted a shadow in front of us from the moon behind.

I only vaguely realised that this is where we had sat while waiting for my ceremony to finish a couple of months ago, except then the sun was setting and casted Amity Park into a golden and orange hue. Now, it was either complete shadow or glints of reflected moonlight we could see (that and the glows of the scattered lamp posts, office windows and headlights). Any closer to the town and the sky would be drowned and suffocated in light pollution, and it was me looking at the stars and thinking this that I came to the realisation that this is what encouraged Sam to ask that question.

All the constellations for this time of the year were visible and I went through their names in my head, mouthing a few as I recalled some of the harder ones as well. Sam caught onto what I was doing (she always does anyway) and used her free hand to pat me on the shoulder.

"Are you looking at that one?" she pointed and I tried my best to look from the same angle as her, "Hercules?"

"No," I replied and moved her hand a little to the left, until it rested on a smaller constellation a small distance beside, "that one."

"I can't remember that one's name," she said with a small frown.

"It's called 'Lyra'," I told her and wrapped my arms gently around her stomach.

"Oh! That's right, Lyra. The harp, right?"

"I think so."

Silence fell after that, but she glanced at me warmly more than a few times while we didn't talk. The night was quiet, a welcome break from the hustle and bustle of the day. I tried my best to absorb and take in every second of this time we were spending together; you can never know when you'll next be fighting for your half-life against something like an all-powerful ghost overlord that has been hidden away for thousands of years. I could tell, just by the way she didn't _completely_ relax her shoulders, that she felt the same way. Moments like this would be rare for any regular school kid that has homework and maybe a part-time job to juggle, but for me they were even rarer.

"But, you know what?" I said, still looking up.

"What?"

"I was actually talking to Mum and Dad about this whole astronaut thing a couple of days ago and they said that they'd take me to NASA headquarters sometime. Just to, you know… look around."

"That sounds great, Danny."

"Yeah."

We kissed then, gentle and long. Her hands found their way to mine again and I felt her smile.

I spent the rest of my sleepless night tucked away in bed with a thought about how we, as humans, could spend our whole lives looking up and dreaming about places we'd never go, while what we will truly find happiness in pursuing is really down here.

I just needed to balance the two.


	13. ST First

_Day two! :D I don't have much time, so I'll reply to reviews tomorrow. For now, please enjoy something that I had trouble thinking up ideas for~_

* * *

You know how that saying goes? That there's a first time for everything? Well, that's true, I know – but some first times are more important than others.

I can apply a lot of 'first times' to my relationship with Sam; the first time I took her flying, the first time we kissed, the first time she told me she loved me…

They were all easy, they were all special and they were all _private_. We kept those memories to ourselves and they were important because we didn't have to share them with anyone. And I'm sure there will be memories we make in the future that will be like that, too.

"Oh my gosh, is that Danny Phantom?"

"What? Where?"

"Over there!"

"It _is_!"

Of course, this sort of thing was expected when you were me, but, when you had no other choice, you learned to deal with it; the buzz over my true identity died down eventually after it was revealed although I know that it will never truly stop. I signed autographs daily. Some days more than others. Sometimes I got really annoyed by it and refused to leave home, or spend my outing invisible. I'd get my friends to do stuff for me.

Sam and I at this moment in time were on holiday in the UK, queuing for The Swarm in Thorpe Park. It was hot, humid and everyone was pressed way too close together. Something was on (controlled) fire nearby and just made everything worse. I sent silent thanks to whoever was out there whenever we shuffled into areas that had shade, and then cursed under my breath when we were forced out of them.

I sighed, nodding and waving to the people had recognised me. Or, rather, everyone seemed to have recognised me but probably saw how hot and bothered I was and didn't really want to disturb me.

Suddenly there was something brushing against my hand and I jerked away in the small space I had, only to look down and see that it was Sam's hand that had been touching mine. I flushed red. Not here! If anyone found out that we were dating it would only bring her into all this mess I have with the media. Obviously that was something I couldn't say out loud, so I pretended not to notice and folded my arms nonchalantly. There was no audible reaction, but, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a glimpse of her face falling.

Oh, come _on_! Can't Sam take a hint?

It happened again about a minute later, and this time her hand came into contact with mine in a slightly harder way. Her fingertips brushed mine, but I only folded my arms in tighter. She'd have to wait until we were in the RV and going back to the hotel if she wanted to hold my hand; it was for her own good.

But she tried. Again, and again. And again.

Wouldn't that be expected anyway with her persistent nature?

Eventually, we made it onto the ride. Our seatbelts were fastened and the protective barrier came down to keep us in.

I swear then that I heard her whimper, or, maybe, a noise that was a bit tougher sounding. Because hey, she was Sam. It wasn't surprising that she was scared of this, though. I would be if I wasn't how I was.

The ride hummed and started up and her panic seemed to be more recognisable.

So I reached and took her hand. For the first time (in public, that is).

Did anyone see?


End file.
